Meet Our Kids 2013
Ally’s Mystery Diagnosis
Looking at the vibrant 4-year-old Ally, one would never guess the life-threatening medical tribulations she went through a few years ago. At 4 months of age, Ally became progressively lethargic and developed eating problems. One day, she spiked a dangerously high fever that landed her in a local emergency room. Ally had mildly abnormal blood work and was admitted to the hospital, but the doctors couldn’t find the cause of her symptoms.
Learn More About Ally’s Mystery Diagnosis
Emma: Overcoming a Nearly Fatal Brain Infection
Six year-old Emma had always been a healthy child, so when in the winter of 2011, the 5-year-old developed what appeared to be a head cold, her parents weren’t terribly worried. Then, on Dec. 27 things took a dramatic turn. At 3 a.m. Emma woke up and went into a violent, prolonged seizure. Emma’s parents called 911. After arriving on the scene, the emergency medical technicians administered anti-convulsant medications but the seizure simply wouldn’t stop. In total, the seizure lasted for two hours.
Learn More About Emma: Overcoming a Nearly Fatal Brain Infection
Harlei: Operating on an “Inoperable” Tumor and Restoring Hope
Harlei Parker, 15, was diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor at age 4. At the time of Harlei’s diagnosis the outlook was grim. Children’s hospital after children’s hospital told Harlei’s parents their daughter’s tumor was inoperable. Enter pediatric neurosurgeon George Jallo, of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, one of a handful of specialists in the world who dare operate on these “inoperable” tumors.
Learn More About Harlei: Operating on an “Inoperable” Tumor and Restoring Hope
Isabelle: Thriving with Septo-Optic Dysplasia
Casey Taylor had a normal pregnancy and uneventful delivery. When her baby daughter, Isabelle, was a few days old she developed feeding problems, including constant spitting and vomiting. Isabelle’s pediatrician believed she had acid reflux and put her on medication. During one of the follow-ups, however, her pediatrician noticed that Isabelle had abnormal eye movements and ordered an MRI.
Learn More About Isabelle: Thriving with Septo-Optic Dysplasia
Katie: A Bright Future Despite Devastating Brain Injury
In January of 2012, Katie and her mother were on their way to basketball practice when they were involved in a devastating accident. Katie was seriously injured and transported to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center--Maryland’s designated pediatric trauma center--where she would spend the next month—and her 13th birthday, in a medically induced coma.
Learn More About Katie: A Bright Future Despite Devastating Brain Injury
Lucy: New 3-D Mapping Technology for Craniosynostosis Makes Surgery Better, Safer
Lucy was a perfectly healthy infant until the fall of 2011, when her parents noticed that the shape of her head was changing — a bump, a protrusion was forming in the back of her skull and her forehead was becoming more prominent. A head ultrasound ruled out the worst — brain inflammation and brain tumor — but Lucy’s parents remained concerned.
Learn More About Lucy: New 3-D Mapping Technology for Craniosynostosis Makes Surgery Better, Safer
Millie: A Rare Birth Defect Reunites Teacher-Student Surgical Duo
Baby Millie was diagnosed with a rare congenital malformation before she was even born. A routine prenatal ultrasound revealed that Millie had bladder exstrophy, a condition in which the bladder forms abnormally outside the body. The condition is so rare some general practitioners of medicine are not even familiar with it. Bladder exstrophy occurs in one out of every 50,000 newborns.
Learn More About Millie: A Rare Birth Defect Reunites Teacher-Student Surgical Duo
Tad: Beating Egg Allergies with…Eggs
Eleven-year-old Tad has had an egg allergy most of his life. He was diagnosed on his first birthday, when, after eating a bite of cupcake, he got violently sick. Over the next six years, Tad religiously avoided any and all foods containing even the smallest trace of egg. Then an opportunity came along. Dr. Robert Wood of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center told Tad’s parents he was beginning a series of studies to treat and eliminate egg allergies in children with…EGGS!
Learn More About Tad: Beating Egg Allergies with…Eggs
Zion: A Study in Resilience
Zion Harvey was a perfectly healthy toddler. Then, out of the blue, at age 2, he developed a drug-resistant infection so virulent it caused full-blown kidney failure and irreversible damage. The infection also cut off blood flow to Zion’s limbs, leading to amputations of his legs below the knee and of his arms below the wrists.
Learn More About Zion: A Study in Resilience